Beacons of Light
by Yokokitsu
Summary: When the trio passes a night in Osaka, a lighthouse gives them more then they bargained for by way of a wish.


Disclaimer: I own Samurai Champloo! Sighs 'If wishes and buts were candy and nuts, then every day would be Christmas.' Yeah…it's not mine.

Warnings: Written for the Summer One-shot Fiction Contest, so if anything seems random, it was one of the requirements.

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Beacons Of Light

_As long as the beacon shines from the lighthouse Bashenba, the dreams and wishes of young lovers' will always come true... _

_

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Fuu stared into the flame glowing softly in front of her. The wick was almost at its end, hidden by the wax surrounding it. As she watched the last flame disappear, she thought back to the story they had heard this afternoon.

* * *

_"It's true! Through all my years, I've seen young couples such as yourselves-" Mugen's eyebrow twitched, "-make pilgrimages here, just to wish on the otherworldly powers of this town's majestic lighthouse! They say that—"_

_"Shove it, old man." Finally Mugen had had enough. He was never in the mood for the stories of strangers, but this had been worse. Not only had he just called them over for the sake of talking, he had also mistaken them for lovers._

_'He must think we're together,' Fuu thought. 'We probably look the part with Jin off looking for a place to stay. For some reason, this assumption didn't to bother her as much as it had Mugen. She suddenly realized that Mugen had wandered off. She left the old man complaining about how rude young people were getting, to no one in particular.

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_

Fuu got up and paced through the main room of the shelter they had found. "You shouldn't burn out the candles so quickly. We were lucky to find them here," the ronin's voice rang out in the silence.

"Oh don't worry so much, Jin!" Fuu laughed. 'The sun hadn't set, though and they would be needing them…' She stared out of the wide spaces that had once held windows. Pinkish tints danced on the walls around her. "I'm going for a walk," she told him distractedly.

As she descended the stairs leading from the doorway to the still-warm sand, she looked up at the lighthouse. Yes, lighthouse. She started her exploration of the beach, amazed at their luck. Or lack thereof…

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"_Good news," Jin seemed to come from nowhere, successfully bringing Mugen to __a halt._

_"What, finally find us a bar?" the pirate asked. Inwardly, Fuu winced. 'What did they need alcohol for? They had her! Wasn't she distracting?'_

_"No, I found us a place to stay," Jin sounded as unfazed as ever. Totally ignoring Mugen's indifference to anything not related to good drink. _

"_Where?" Fuu asked excitedly. "Are there bath houses, and beds, and—"_

"_No." Blunt as always, Jin cut to the point. "It's an old broken down lighthouse. We don't have enough money to stay anywhere decent." He was interrupted by a loud growl from Mugen's stomach. "Or eat," he added quickly. _

_For once, however, Mugen seemed not to care about his stomach. "Lighthouse? You mean the haunted lovers' place? No way!" Mugen looked stubborn, Jin looked confused._

"_It wasn't haunted, Mugen." The old man just said that lovers went there to make wishes. I didn't even think you were listening."_

"_I stayed long enough to hear 'otherworldly powers'. I'm not staying there!" With that he was gone. Jin looked more confused, if that was possible. Fuu wasn't sure- the samurai's facial expression never seemed to change all that much.

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_

Fuu knew that he could take himself, but she couldn't help but worry about Mugen. He was strong, but not too bright. She pushed the thought to the back to of her mind, and stared out across the water.

The sunsets of Osaka are always beautiful, and today was no exception. The red hues of the sky seemed to float on the dark waves, as well as in the sky. The waves, capped with white foam, lapped at the shore.

As the scarlet orb departed the Earth for the deep sea, the sky's colors faded from red to orange, then orange to deep navy, and finally black. The clouds also seemed to melt into nothing, as the warmth seeped from the sand beneath her feet.

Slowly, the moon moved towards its zenith in the now-night.

As she watched and wandered, Fuu let her mind slip into fantasy. If she were to wish on Bashenba, what would she want? The lighthouse was for couples, who would be by her side? 'I wish that the journey…' No, that wasn't it. 'I wish that Mugen…' Not that either!

"I WISH I KNEW WHAT TO WISH FOR!" Her yell echoed off the cliffs of the beach, and returned to her ears. Flustered by how ridiculous she sounded, she marched for ward. Still being careful to keep the lighthouse always in sight, she began to take notice of the activity around her.

She watched the fireflies signal to their mates in the summer night. Not paying any attention to where she was walking, her foot connected with a piece of sturdy driftwood. Her arms shot out in front of her when she stumbled forward. Gravity pulled her towards the Earth, and just when she expected a mouthful of sand, Fuu was pulled back up.

"Always the clumsy one, " Mugen taunted. Fuu looked up to see- and smell- the pirate holding her to his chest with one arm.

Blushing, Fuu stammered and fought with proper grammar. "M-mugen! I guess I didn't see- err hear…notice… you!" Seeing what was in his hand, she asked, "What's with the shell?"

"I was hungry." On closer inspection, Fuu saw that the shell _was_ slightly chewed on.

"You can't eat seashells."

"Who says you can't?"

"Common sense!"

"I thought that maybe there would be a hermit crab in it!"

"You shouldn't eat raw crab meat anyway, Mugen!"

"At least _I _don't scream out ridiculous wishes about making wishes."

"What? Oh, you heard that," she concluded weakly.

"The whole city heard that, Fuu." Quietly, he asked, "What was that about, anyway?"

Confused by her companion's, almost caring, tone, Fuu answered, "I was wishing I had someone to wish on the lighthouse with." Without warning, the pirate-vagrant pulled her into a deep kiss. "I didn't know..." she managed.

"What did you want to wish for, sunflower girl?" Fuu looked up at her companion for a while before answering. "You." Mugen leaned in once more, before Fuu jerked out of his arms.

"What's wrong?"

"The beacon has to be lit! In order for our wish to come true Bashenba's light must shine out to sea! '_As long as the beacon shines from the lighthouse Bashenba, the dreams and wishes of young lovers' will always come true'_. Remember? 

"So what? I'll go light it back up." With that, he was gone. She should have begun to worry, then and there.

* * *

Fuu watched in something like shock, and confusion as he shrank into the distance. Soon afterwards, she saw a light rising into the dark summer sky to mix and blot out the stars. As she stared, however, the beacon seemed to grow taller and taller until… "ARE THOSE FLAMES?"

"Mugen!" she screamed, running blindly to the flames. When she finally approached the blazes, to her relief, she saw him standing silhouetted against the fire. He stood watching for a moment before turning around.

"See, I told you I could do it."

Fuu looked up at him quizzically, "How did you manage to set the whole thing on fire?"

"I found some lit candles inside. All I did was throw them in the grass."

She was dumbfounded. She had caused the destruction of the only shelter they had. Well, okay so Mugen had started the fire, but basically, she gave him everything he needed to destroy something…again. She didn't have time to dwell on it, though- Mugen was once more pulling her closer.

Their lips were almost touching when they were interrupted by a 'THUNK.' Mugen stumbled away, clutching the back of his head.

"I could have been killed," the samurai deadpanned.

"Jin!" She had completely forgotten that he was inside. He looked the part as well, his kimono smoking and charred at the edges. Soot was stained across the front, and the smell of burning wood as nearly overpowering

"What was that for?" Mugen seemed to have recovered.

"For nearly killing me. And for leveling the only place we had to stay in." Jin was just as calm as ever.

Fuu made her way down the beach, the backdrop a mixed palette of orange against black. Even as she widened the distance between her and the raging flames, the clang of metal on metal could be heard as the two men's swords clashed. But her mind was not registering these things; when she looked back at the burning torch that had once been the guiding light of Bashenba, she knew that the legend of the wishes was true.

Now, however, the beacons of light would never shine so brightly as this. The greatest show for the strangest pair. Her wish would be granted.

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A/N: Okay, so it's not exactly the way I planned it. I still like it, though. If you would take the time to tell me what you think, it would be greatly appreciated. In other words…REVIEWS DAMMIT! 


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